In terms of Social Security taxes, there isn't equity

Posted: Monday, March 05, 2001

The debate about who pays a greater share of the taxes in this country fails to include Social Security taxes.

People earning $80,000 or less pay 7 percent on their entire income while those earning over $80,000 pay a limit of approximately $5,000 of Social Security taxes. Since the wealthiest take longer to receive their Social Security investment returned at time of retirement it is felt this is fair. Unfortunately, that is not the whole story.

George Bush (father of W) took $89 billion out of our Social Security trust fund money and paid off the national debt created by Reaganomics and the S&L crisis. The interest and principal of that loan is now worth $269 billion. The government is still trying to figure out how to pay it back to the trust fund! Therefore, the poor and lower middle class have paid off the national debt by paying Social Security taxes on 100 percent of their income while the wealthiest have paid taxes on only a minor portion of their income to help pay off the national debt. This use of Social Security trust fund money has always been left out of the equity equation. To create equity the rich should be required to pay Social Security taxes on their entire income (while maintaining the limit on the employers contribution to avoid inflation) which would mean everyone would be sharing the burden of paying off the national debt. Only then will George W. Bush have a legitimate argument as to why his current tax proposal makes sense.

Sidney Feldman

This article published in the Athens Daily News on Monday, March 5, 2001.